Scan
Scan is one of the ten basic ship statistics that will define your capabilities in the game. Players start with a scan power of 1. It is countered by Cloak.
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Benefits
There are three primary uses for Scan:
- Finding Planets - Every time you add a planet to your "planets scanned" list, it gets harder to find another planet. This is not a straightforward calculation, but some empirical data is available. Improving your scan will increase your chances of success, thereby reducing the energy wasted by failed scans. Rather than just scanning haphazardly with a bit of energy here or there, experienced players prefer to perform a Scan Blitz.
- Scan will also let you gain detailed information about your target, such as what modules they have equipped, thus allowing you to better choose your targets. Higher scan also give a greater chance to cause critical hits against your enemy.
- Hacking - Scan is factored into the actual hack attempt (along with Cloak) to determine the success of your attempt. A successful Hack attempt can allow you to steal enemy research points. A critical Hack will allow you to steal the location of a random planet in your enemy's scan database.
Improvements
Scan can be improved by installing Sensors and Scanners on your ship.
Planet Scanning
Scan Chances Converted to Percentages
From Lone.Lycan's 24oct2011 forum post:
good = 70-100%
fair = 40-70%
poor = 15-40%
very poor = under 15%
not sure where the button turns gray (probably 5%?)
According to BinaryMan later in that topic, the "your scans are not efficient" message will start appearing at 50%, partway through the fair range.
Drops During Planet Scans
- Elios Solar Inverter - See The Elios Migration (July)
- Hyperluminal Readings - See The_Q-Pedd_Catalyst (Feb)
- Lepus Bio-Nest - See The Lepus Messenger (March / April)
- NSX Crate: Diamond, NSX Crate: Amber, NSX Crate: Amethyst, NSX Crate: Jade - See Nanoshearing Sensor
- Psyshade Inducer - See The Hallows Bane (Daily Mission) (November)
- Scruuge Keystone - See Gifts Unraveled (December)
Missions Requiring Planet Scans
- The_Q-Pedd_Catalyst
- Purple / Red (Type 2 or Type 5) gas planet to collect Hyperluminal Readings (5 required for each completion of the mission)
- Purple / Red (Type 2 or Type 5) gas planet to collect Hyperluminal Readings (5 required for each completion of the mission)
- The_Cerulean_Conclave_(Mission)#Task_2:_Setup_Listening_Posts
- 20 Icy Planets, scanned in the last 5 minutes.
- 20 Icy Planets, scanned in the last 5 minutes.
- The_Hunt_for_Mawks:_Showdown_in_Taladar#Task_1:_Find_Lady_Mawks
- 20 Tiny or Very Tiny Planets, scanned in the last 5 minutes.
- 20 Tiny or Very Tiny Planets, scanned in the last 5 minutes.
- The_Tenebris_Discovery_(Late_Timeline)#Task_3:_Return_the_Artifact_to_the_Bralkir_Shrine
- 30 Very Large (or bigger) Enemy Planets, scanned in the last 5 minutes. (NOTE: the 5 minute restriction may have been relaxed [1])
- 30 Very Large (or bigger) Enemy Planets, scanned in the last 5 minutes. (NOTE: the 5 minute restriction may have been relaxed [1])
- The_Xathe_Vortex#Task_3:_Perform_Scan_Overlay_Analysis
- 20 Blue (Type 1 or Type 3) gas planet, scanned in the last 5 minutes.
- 20 Blue (Type 1 or Type 3) gas planet, scanned in the last 5 minutes.
